


Growing, Pains

by LogicLoup



Category: ReBoot (TV)
Genre: F/M, Teen Angst, game-hopping, nobody angsts like Matrix angsts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-09-25
Updated: 2006-09-25
Packaged: 2018-05-14 18:56:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5754517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LogicLoup/pseuds/LogicLoup
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Love isn't all sunshine and daisy-wheels. It's also heartache and misunderstanding and why the frag do you put up with me?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Growing, Pains

_Enzo taps weakly at his icon, converting from system to game mode. Faint and far away, he can hear Frisket bark, AndrAIa pound against the coloured glass of her wait window. He tells himself again that he doesn’t believe in the no-win scenario. Dot and Mouse had evacuated the sector; no one would be hurt. He’ll stay with the game until it drops in Mainframe again. Everything will be fine. Everything will be—_

_His head explodes in searing pain as the User grabs his head, holds him tight in an effortless one-handed grip while a golden, flame-wreathed claw plunges into his eye. Hurt and hate and terror well up in a raw-throated scream that never ends..._

With a violent shudder, Enzo woke up, wide-eyed and frantic. The targeting reticle his right eye superimposed onto his field of vision was a jarring reminder of everything that had happened in the minutes between Mainframe and now. “Basic,” he muttered as he sat up, pushing AndrAIa's hand roughly from his shoulder. “So basic.” He drew his knees up to his chest and stared off into the darkness, gritting his teeth against the threat of rising tears.

“This isn’t good,” AndrAIa said as she scooted closer. She put one arm across his shoulders, tugged his head down to rest against hers. “You need to talk this through, Sparky.”

“Don’t call me that,” Enzo snapped. “I’m _not_ a little sprite.”

There was a long pause. Enzo heard the breath catch in AndrAIa’s throat. She exhaled in a long, shuddering breath that ruffled through the thick, shaggy mess of his hair. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. Another breath and her voice was back to normal — stable, reasonable, competent. Everything he wasn’t. Perfect. “Alright, Guardian Matrix—”

“And I’m _not_ a Guardian!” he snarled. “I’m a _failure_ and we both know it.” Enzo felt AndrAIa’s fingers tense, twitching against his shoulder, and for a nano he wished she would just jab her nails into him, put him to sleep so they could both just put this all behind them, each be granted their own kind of freedom. But her hand flattened out, patted him gently, and he couldn’t bear up under the weight of her sympathy. He scrambled to his feet and out the door of the shelter they’d been squatting in since arriving in this system. He wandered blind through side streets and back alleys, half stomping and half stumbling, and didn’t stop until he heard Frisket padding up beside him.

“I really messed things up back there, huh boy.” Enzo sighed, blowing a fall of hair away from his good eye. “It’s just, she’s so… and I’m just… _frag_.” He sat down on the pavement, leaning back against a street lamp. “Everything I do goes all wrong, somehow. Made a toolbar of myself as a Guardian, lost the game, got us stranded here, then act all 8-bit when she tries to help. Basic. So very basic.” Frisket shoved his nose under Enzo’s hand, and the boy reflexively began to pet him. “I just don’t want to make things worse. Not when she's all I’ve got.” The dog barked once, sharp and reprimanding. “Sorry, Frisket. You’re a great dog, but it’s just not the same.”

“Enzo!” AndrAIa’s voice carried clearly through the still night air. “Enzo! There’s a game cube coming! We have a way back to Mainframe!” He looked up, watching as she ran toward him in bounding, long-legged strides. Within nanos, the system’s early warning system chimed in. “Warning, incoming game. Warning, incoming game.” Then the sky split to reveal the shimmering purple of the game cube. AndrAIa was directly in its path. Enzo would be outside its perimeter.

Enzo stood and scratched Frisket behind the ears. “Frisket, you take care of AndrAIa.” His voice cracked, but he was beyond noticing, much less caring. The dog whimpered and took a few paces toward AndrAIa, then back to Enzo, torn between his sprite’s command and his own concern. “Go on! Go with AndrAIa. Go back home.”

AndrAIa had stopped, and now stood and stared at Enzo. “Hurry! It’s almost landed!” Enzo turned away, shaking his head. She didn’t need him; he didn’t deserve her. It would be better this way. He felt the faint prickle of spillover energy as the game cube landed, and walked slowly away, reluctant to leave but unable to turn back.

And then he felt the very solid ground rush up to meet him as AndrAIa landed against his back in a flying tackle. “Don’t you ever, _ever_ do that to me again!” He felt the hot, wet trickle of her tears against his neck as they lay in a jumbled heap on the sidewalk with Frisket circling protectively around them.

“But… the game… you…” Enzo stammered in confusion.

“What good would it do Mainframe if you didn't make it back?” AndrAIa squirmed, not letting go of Enzo, but allowing them both to sit up, side by side. She quirked a crooked smile and went on, “Besides, I don’t think Mouse will have forgiven me for that little trick with her zipboard, and I’d rather have you along when she finally catches up to me.” Enzo laughed in spite of himself, and AndrAIa’s smile widened as she nodded approvingly. “Much better.”

Enzo opened his mouth, then closed it again. He started to put his hand forward, then pulled it back. “Thanks,” he said, finally. _‘I love you,’ he doesn’t add._

AndrAIa put one arm across his shoulders, the other hand on his knee. “Any time, anything you need,” she said. _‘I love you, too,’ she leaves unspoken._


End file.
